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Cisco MDS Series vs Dell PowerStore comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco MDS Series
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell PowerStore
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
222
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (4th), NAS (2nd), All-Flash Storage (1st), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Enterprise SAN category, the mindshare of Cisco MDS Series is 9.7%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerStore is 15.1%, down from 33.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise SAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerStore15.1%
Cisco MDS Series9.7%
Other75.2%
Enterprise SAN
 

Featured Reviews

VK
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Reliable storage networking has ensured seamless multi-protocol access and continuous redundancy
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI functionality or better integration capabilities would be advantageous for Cisco MDS Series. Any new AI-related features or functionality added to Cisco MDS Series would represent a positive advancement.
reviewer2304864 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vmware Windows Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Resilience has supported proactive management and secured audit readiness across multiple sites
The resilience in Dell PowerStore benefits my company from an auditing perspective because we know we have that resilience in place. I see Dell PowerStore playing a bigger role in the future because we are starting to use it more, and that is pushing it. The biggest return on investment for me when using Dell PowerStore is scalability. Scalability is key. I can amplify that scalability is the biggest return on investment because we have redundancy between two sites; if something goes down, we have to manage it, but we want to do it proactively.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the Cisco MDS Series is its reliability, support, and scalability."
"It enables us to integrate and load balance between multiple layer one fiber vendor links, which is very useful."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the devices, databases, and zoning."
"MDS's reliability is at a high level, the issues with these switches are extremely rare, and the whole product line is very predictable and stable."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco MDS Series is security."
"The product is easy to use."
"This solution is required for any type of IT infrastructure for Storage Networking and provides high availability for storage service."
"Cisco MDS 9148 SAN switch model is the best product, highly reliable and low cost, easy to deploy, easy to upgrade, easy to configure, easy to administer, and it gives effective performance when used for SAN switch connectivity between hosts and storage boxes."
"The most valuable feature is the three-to-one data reduction."
"The most important aspect of Dell PowerStore in comparison to any other platform is that it helps us save costs while giving more value per GB per dollar spent. It provides an industry-leading DRR ratio."
"My company finds particular features within Dell PowerStore valuable, primarily the cost benefits for the performance that we get out of the platform."
"The main feature of Dell PowerStore is its support for NVMe as well as hybrid solutions."
"The management portal is particularly user-friendly. We can access it easily, and the management software is not complicated."
"The stability has been excellent."
"As a primary storage, it has all the features that our customers need, with only minor tweaks or enhancements needed here and there."
"The administration tools take advantage of machine learning and make recommendations to the admins, and that makes the administration easier."
 

Cons

"The solution's management interface and GUI need improvement."
"The GUI client is Java-based and we know that Java is not secure, so everyone disables it."
"Cisco MDS Series could improve by adding more gigahertz. However, they are doing this over time."
"Cisco MDS Series can improve by having API functionality for automation and programming."
"Data Center Network Manager is good but it is not free and requires purchasing a separate license."
"I do not have a central management software to manage these products due to the licensing cost. It would be beneficial to have central management software for easier handling."
"The product is very expensive."
"Cisco MDS Series can improve by having SAN Manager with life cycle management features and Integration with 3rd party storage monitoring tools."
"Dell PowerStore is an unfinished product compared to the HPE systems because it is relatively new."
"Some areas of Dell PowerStore that could be improved include reporting features, such as performance reports, which are lacking compared to VMAX and PowerMax."
"The only area I can highlight for improvement is that the 4:1 data reduction target has not been reached. This may be due to an issue with Dell EMC's initial analysis of data compression. As a result, we have had to add new physical disks to reach our goal of total available disk space."
"My only concern is with the procurement process, which takes longer when we procure Dell products."
"The initial setup was a little bit cumbersome. We had a bit of an adoption process internally. It wasn't immediately straightforward on day one."
"Dell PowerStore is a really great device. A potential area for improvement could be a little bit more deduplication."
"There are some management issues in Dell PowerStore. I have managed several pieces of Dell PowerStore's hardware area, and I could feel that it was almost like a step back in certain areas when it came to the management interface."
"If I could improve Dell PowerStore, I would suggest that integrations into backup platforms be a little more streamlined."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing cannot be considered an advantageous trait of the solution since it is expensive. I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"It's perpetual licensing and maintenance is a recurrent cost."
"The price of the Cisco MDS Series is high."
"The software features are included in the pricing without any additional purchase requirements."
"The solution’s pricing is always too high."
"The solution is expensive."
"Pricing depends on the model and negotiation. Sometimes we manage to get good discounts, sometimes not."
"The rate is always too high. Nobody likes paying for it. I have not seen a client yet who says that the price should be higher. Initially, people look at it, but when they see what the benefits are, it is a no-brainer. We can give them good pricing at the outset."
"Dell PowerStore charges for the hardware warranty every three years. The price will depend on the storage model or how much hardware it has."
"The pricing structure and licensing model of Dell PowerStore are pretty decent. It's pretty competitive."
"The pricing structure and licensing model of Dell PowerStore are very good and I like it. We chose it because it was reasonably priced and met our requirements"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business73
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise107
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco MDS Series?
The pricing could be improved as the solution is very expensive. I am on a yearly payment basis.
What needs improvement with Cisco MDS Series?
I do not have a central management software to manage these products due to the licensing cost. It would be beneficial to have central management software for easier handling.
What is your primary use case for Cisco MDS Series?
I am using Cisco MDS in SAN environments for storage connections and server connections.
What do you think about Dell EMC PowerStore? Is it actually a new product?
PowerStore is flexible, scalable, simple, and performant with market-leading economics for a wide range of legacy and next-gen apps. It is only Flash and can support many workloads from today's app...
How does Dell's EMC PowerStore compare with its EMC Unity XT?
Dell EMC PowerStore is a unified storage platform that has the added benefit of being scalable. The automated management of resources feature provides a more simple administration. I found the flex...
What's the difference between DELL EMC Powerstore and Powermax NVMe?
Dell PowerStore is an all-solid-state midrange storage system. It has many internal elements taken from other Dell offerings and integrated into the PowerStoreOS. The installation and setup have a ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco MDS 9100, Cisco MDS 9222i, Cisco MDS 9700
PowerStore
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Rugby League
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco MDS Series vs. Dell PowerStore and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.